Even the bad can be good.

     A few days ago, when I was on my way to visit my grandaunt, I came across this national serviceman. When he boarded the bus, he found a seat and placed his bag pack on the seat beside him. Then he started talking on his phone. He was talking really loudly, spewing vulgarities every now and then. He seemed just like a typical Singaporean ah beng. He also placed his leg (keh kar) on the bar in front of his seat, making himself "at home". People on the bus were staring and looking at him, but he did not seem to care.

     A few bus stops later, a 50/60 year old woman boarded the bus. The NS man immediately shifted his bag pack away to let her sit. Initially I thought, well maybe he did that to avoid getting stomped or something. When he reached his stop, he pressed the bell and stayed seated. The woman beside wanted to stand to let him out, but he told her to stay seated as the bus was still moving, and that it was dangerous. When the bus finally came to a stop, he actually apologized to the woman while squeezing his way past her. 

     I was honestly surprised. We usually stereotype ah bengs as disrespectful, bad, selfish and other negative stuff. But this guy here, he was respectful towards the woman. He thought about her safety, and he was polite. My faith in humanity is slowly increasing again.

    So as I said, I was on my way to visit my grandaunt. She's 80 over years old, and lives alone. I went with my grandma. From what I heard from my relatives, she's a grumpy old woman. She likes to order people around, and likes to scold people. She likes things to go her way, and is very naggy. I only see her 2 or 3 times a year, so I'm not sure how true these are. So this grandaunt of mine likes to give my grandma food for us to eat. She always gives things like meat, fish, vegetables, scallops, biscuits and all. She also likes to buy snacks and food for her neighbours and her friends. Somehow, she loves giving. 

    That was the first time I went to visit her at her house. When I entered, I saw her sitting alone, eating plain porridge with bean sprouts and salted fish. I was surprised. I didn't understand why. She is always giving us meat, fish and all those good stuff. But here she is eating plain porridge with just bean sprouts. My heart ached. And as usual, she gave us a lot of meat, eggs, fish and shrimps when we visited that day. Even though we rejected and told her to leave it for herself, she insisted we take them and claimed that she bought too much on impulse. I don't know how true that is, but I'm hoping it's true. I'm hoping she does eat her proteins too, and not only plain porridge with bean sprouts. I'm hoping she doesn't care too much about others, and forget to care about herself. I hope, I hope. 

     It's funny how we only see the bad side of people, and not see the good side of them. I sincerely believe that every bad person has a good side to them. And that every good person, too, has a bad side to them. No one is entirely good, nor entirely bad. Everyone has their own reasons behind each and every action or behaviour. Everyone has their own story to tell.